a l b u m r e v i e w s


DREAMHUNTER
KINGDOM COME
Z Records
Produced by: Not Listed
Released: JUNE 23
Closest Relative: Heavy Bones, Shark Island
GENRE: Hard Rock
OVERALL: 92%

  1. Kingdom Come
  2. When Heaven Calls Your Name
  3. Anyway You Want It
  4. Night After Night
  5. My Days Are Counted
  6. Long Cold Winter
  7. Tell Me Why
  8. Young Wild & Free
  9. Rose Tattoo
  10. All Dressed Up
  11. Take My Breath Away

Another killer album and the second best Z Records release this year. It's actually hard to believe this album wasn't recorded in L.A. 10 years ago. This is a real throw back. A few songs and demo's do age back from 1992, but were recorded and finished in Sweden last year.
Just as Hair Of The Dog revitalized the classic hard rock sound of bands like Kiss, Van Halen and Little Caesar, Dreamhunter do it for the classic sleaze rock bands of LA, circa 1989.
With a singer that sounds like the long lost Joel Ellis of Heavy Bones and Richard Black of Shark Island mixed with Robin McAuley - this album is soon going to be a classic amongst fans of late 80's / early 90's LA hard rock.
From the urgency of the title track, to the hard rock anthem of When Heaven Calls Your Name, there is few albums that have had such an attitude as this.
Just check out the more keyboard involved and totally groove friendly Anyway You Want it. It really sounds like Ratt, Motley Crue or Shark Island could have left it off one of their early albums! The track has a real party feel to it.
The big ballad of the album My Days Are Counted is a classic lighters in the air, U.S. FM radio rock track. Vocalist Stig Gunnarsson is a class act, no doubt.
Other highlights are the AOR anthem Young Wild & Free and the killer hard rocker Motley Crue-ish All Dressed Up plus the wonderfully atmospheric and moody Take My Breath Away, which sounds a little like Lonley Rose from Norway's Sons Of Angels. My point there is that it's a classy ballad.
The production isn't as tight or as solid as releases by Kharma and House Of Shakira, but the vibe of the album is what carries the album.
BOTTOM LINE: I used to worship bands like Shark Island, Heavy Bones, McAuley Schenker Group, XYZ, Juliet and to a lesser degree Motley Crue and Bon Jovi.
Dreamhunter comprises elements of all those bands and if you have at any stage held similar enthusiasm for any of the above, then this album is calling you. Classic American melodic hard rock, even though the guys are Swedish! Not one filler on the album.
PRODUCTION: 85% SONGS: 93% VIBE: 90%ATTITUDE: 96%
ESSENTIAL FOR: All fans of classic L.A. hard rock circa 1989-1992.

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